You Really can Live on One Income

You really can live on one income.

Impossible!" you say. "It can't be done today. Things just cost too much." Living on one income sounds like a fairy tale to most Australians. But it can be done, and you can still live a great lifestyle, we are living proof of that.

A few years ago I was a very average, very happy spendthrift with a part-time job, a loving husband, two gorgeous baby boys and a mortgage.

Then disaster struck.

I lost my job, the next day my husband lost his job and three days later we found out we were expecting our third baby. And we had half a house –we had ripped the back of our house off ready for renovations.

I would love to be able to say that overnight I became a Cheapskate par excellence with our lives continuing on without the slightest hiccup.

But I would be lying.

Instead I shutdown and went into survival mode for six months. It was during this time that I decided that I didn’t want to lose our lifestyle or our home or go back to work after the baby was born. Changes had to be made.

At first I just wanted to be able to live on the money we had coming in so I could stay at home and be a full-time mother and homemaker. Then I really got into the game – looking for ways to mend or make do or re-use or recycle or create whatever it was we wanted rather than spending the money we had.

Once the decision to live on one income and save was made, the rest was relatively simple.

I became a saver, not a spender.

It didn’t take long to realise that the little ways we saved money every day were the very things that would let me be a stay at home mum and have the home, family and lifestyle that I always dreamed of.

I learned to be economical in the use of money, goods and consumable items.

I learned to sew, cook from scratch, grow a family sized veggie garden in an average backyard and to hunt out bargains. I happily tell anyone and everyone that we eat 99% generic grocery items, that the op-shop is our favourite department store and that cooking from scratch actually does save money, time and energy.

I learned to avoid unnecessary spending.

I became an expert at the three Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle. A side benefit of this is that they are not only good for our budget but they are good for the environment too.

Bread tabs became spare pegs. Cereal liners became freezer film. Pants with the knees out became shorts (and not only for the kids). Tupperware was pulled out of the cupboard and actually put to use. I researched the way my grandmother and great-grandmother fed, dressed, entertained and looked after their families and homes.

Note that I said simple earlier, and not easy. It wasn’t easy, we were tempted to splurge, to give up at times and spend our savings. There will always be unexpected emergencies - but living the Cheapskates way we will have the savings to cover them, without going into debt or even worse.

The best part of all this wasn’t the saving in money. Our life actually improved. We ate better, had more family fun together, enjoyed our home more, paid our bills, really saved money and actually had fun doing it!

If you currently have two incomes coming into your household and really want to save money for your future, make a conscious decision now to save one and live on the other. Don't forget to let the family know this is what you've decided - they need to be a part of this plan too.

Living the Cheapskates way isn’t a life of deprivation. You can still enjoy the good things in life, the things that are important to you. And that’s the secret. You don’t waste money, time or energy on stuff that isn’t important to you so that you can spend on the things you enjoy.

If you enjoy travel, then cutting a night at the cinema and replacing it with a DVD from the Library (free, saving $15) or from the Video Library (about $7, saving $8) and putting the savings into your holiday fund isn’t a hardship.

If you love to eat out at good restaurants then cooking dinner at home 6 nights a week rather than picking up takeaway 2 nights can save you $50. Add that $50 to your entertainment budget for the week and you can enjoy a night out, debt free.

Set a budget for gifts. Then shop for them during the year at sales, op shops, garage sales and markets. If you find a gift that costs less than the budgeted amount, put the difference into your savings.

These are all little, insignificant things. But add them up and the real savings are very significant.

To me being a Cheapskate is one of the best things in my life. It’s become a challenge to me – to find ways to save money, time and energy without compromising the way we live now and want to live in the future.

And I love it!!!

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